'Twas a great place to rustle up some GRUB!
...a well-known restaurant that ain't there no more...

If you've ever been to O'Shea's Irish Pub on Coeur d'Alene Lake drive, you might have noticed that it's got quite a big parking lot. A HUGE parking lot, in fact, when you consider the size of that small business. Well, I have no idea what is exactly the "use" for that big flat expanse of land, but we all know it has the following points going for it:

1. The land is FLAT, therefore buildable.
2. The land is within the Coeur d'Alene City Limits.
3. Whoever owns the land is waiting until he can get a zillion dollars for it.
4. Until then, that land will remain unoccupied until someone with a zillion dollars comes forth.
5. And who knows what'll be built there. Here a condo, there a condo, everywhere a condo-condo.
6. And so on, and so forth...

Hmmm. I think I've just written a "Coeur d'Alene Real Estate Primer" there. Anyway, I sure did wander off-topic, didn't I? I was going to get around to telling ya, dear reader, that the BOOTS AND SADDLE CAFE/bar used to occupy that flat space, just south of O'Shea's pub; between O'Sheas and the motel/campground down there. And, I would really like to find a picture of the outside of the business, but so far, all I've found are interior shots. But I found a great postcard from the '50s, with the "Boots and Saddle" name on it...and here 'tis...



FINE PRINT DEPT.: There was no "CDA Lake Drive" back then. This is back when Sherman Avenue was actually Hiway 10 running thru town. Which is why the card says the Boots and Saddle was located..."on Sherman".

What this picture does, more than anything is prove that no, I haven't lost my mind, and that this is NOT a figment of my imagination. The Boots and Saddle actually did exist. It was a pretty big place, as these interior shots show. When I was a knot-headed little kid, my parents took me there once or twice. Nothing stands in that location now. I wonder how many millionaires around here are salivating and frothing at the mouth, wondering how they can get their hands on that property...
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So, in best bob-and-weave fashion, I entered the blog-ring, tossed in a few quick jabs, and got out. After all, I have blog burnout. So I gotta take it easy. Hopefully I don't also have blog-reader-burnout.